Methane is prepared in the laboratory by heating a mixture of sodium ethanoate with soda lime. The chemical constituent(s) of soda lime is/are

The chemical constituent of soda lime used to prepare methane in the laboratory is Ca(OH)2 (calcium hydroxide) and NaOH (sodium hydroxide). Soda lime is a mixture of these two compounds. When sodium ethanoate (NaC2H3O2) is heated with soda lime, it undergoes a reaction known as the Kolbe's reaction, which produces methane gas (CH4) as one of the products. The reaction can be represented as follows: 2NaC2H3O2 + 2Ca(OH)2 → 2CH4 + 2NaOH + 2CaCO3 In this reaction, the sodium ethanoate reacts with the calcium hydroxide to form calcium acetate (Ca(C2H3O2)2) and sodium hydroxide. The calcium acetate then decomposes to produce methane gas and calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which is a solid precipitate. Therefore, the chemical constituents of soda lime used to prepare methane in the laboratory are calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH).